If a Man Entice a Maid Summary and Analysis

By the spring of 1840, the principle of celestial marriage, and patriarchal order, had been revealed. This principle organizes husbands and wives, along with their families, as eternal units. They are sealed by the laws and power of God to be family units throughout all eternity. Men and women who truly loved their spouses embraced this principle with great joy. Before this principle was introduced, there was no hope for families to be together beyond this life; death was essentially a divorce, with individuals living separately and alone for eternity.

Sometime after this, the law of plural marriage began to slowly be used. The purpose of this was to ensure that women who were single, due to the loss of a husband, or that the husband did not join the church and...